The University of Maine placed 12 student-athletes on the 2010 All-Academic Team released on Friday, June 11. The 12 student-athletes trailed just UMass, who had 14 named to the squad. In addition, senior Kevin Swallow (Stanwood, Mich.) was named to the Hockey East Association Academic All-Star Team, which honors the top grade point averages by position.

A total of 79 Hockey East student-athletes were named to the 2009-2010 All-Academic Team. Each of the student-athletes honored achieved a grade point average of 3.0 or higher in each of the two academic periods during which he was actively competing.

UMass led the league with 14 student-athletes honored followed by Maine who had 12. UMass Lowell, Merrimack and Providence College each had nine student-athletes honored followed by New Hampshire and Northeastern who each had eight. Boston College (5), Vermont (4) and Boston University (1) rounded out the honorees.

Kevin Swallow achieved a 3.83 GPA in his final year, earning a spot on the Hockey East Academic All-Star team for the first time in his career. Swallow, a transfer from Dartmouth College, was named to the Hockey East All-Academic Team for the second time in his career.

Senior Brett Carriere (Ottawa, Ontario) along with juniors Jeff Dimmen (Colorado Springs, Colo.), Tanner House (Cochrane, Alberta) and Josh Van Dyk (Woodstock, Ontario) were all named to the All-Academic Team for the third time in their careers.

Spencer Abbott (Hamilton, Ontario), Gustav Nyquist (Malmo, Sweden), Will O’Neill (Salem, Mass.) and Swallow were all honored for the second time in their careers.

Theo Andersson (Gothenburg, Sweden), Mike Cornell (Franklin, Mass.) Joey Diamond (Long Beach, N.Y.) and Mark Nemec (Rouses Point, N.Y.) were all honored for the first time in their careers.

Nyquist, the lone unanimous selection to the Hockey East First Team this past season, was the only member of the First Team named to the All-Academic Team.

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The final 2009-2010 NCAA men’s ice hockey stats were released recently and the University of Maine has a pair of statistical champions. Gustav Nyquist (Malmo, Sweden) led the nation in points per game, while the Black Bears led the nation in power play percentage.

Nyquist, who was named to the 2010 Hobey Hat Trick as one of the three top players in the nation, finished his sophomore campaign with 19 goals and 42 assists for 61 points. He averaged 1.56 points per game, which was tops in the country. Cory Conacher of Canisius was second, averaging 1.51 points per game. Nyquist was the lone player in the nation to reach the 60 point plateau this season. He was the lone freshman or sophomore to finish in the top six in the nation in points per game.

Maine as a team led the nation in power play percentage. The Black Bears were 62 of 224 with the man advantage. Maine scored at a 27.7 percent clip on the power play this past season. The Black Bears were the only team in the nation to tally 60 or more power play goals. Yale finished second in the nation, scoring at a 23.9 percent clip on the power play.
The Black Bears are set to return 20 letterwinners from the 2009-2010 season. In addition, Maine returns 90.5 percent of its total offense from a year ago. Among the returnees are Maine’s top seven scorers from last season including: Nyquist (61 points), Brian Flynn (Lynnfield Mass.) (47 points) and Tanner House (Cochrane, Alberta) (39 points).

The puck drops on the 2010-2011 season on Friday, October 8 when they Black Bears host Hockey East rival UMass Lowell at 7 PM at Alfond Arena.

(Courtesy of UMaine Public Relations)